Following a sleepy August, a record number of foreign investors are now flocking to Japan in search of fresh clues to whether “Abenomics” is still a good reason to buy Japanese stocks.

While the stock-market rally from mid-November has recently flagged, with trading volumes low, foreign investors remain focused on whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies can really lift the economy out of deflation.

Both Japanese and foreign brokers are tailoring their investor conferences to address this increasing demand for a better understanding of Japanese politics by inviting members of Mr. Abe’s Cabinet and his close advisers as keynote speakers. Read More »

Ahead of Sunday’s upper house election, foreign investors expressed varying degrees of optimism and skepticism that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will forge ahead with difficult structural reform even if his party wins big this weekend.

While Mr. Abe has had success in boosting stocks, weakening the yen and prompting some initial growth with short-term spending and a much more aggressive monetary easing policy, overseas fund managers cite the need for structural reform to really lift Japan out of two decades of economic stagnation. Read More »

With the collapse of Japan’s “bubble” economy in 1990 and an aging society, property prices have been on a nearly uninterrupted slide for 25 years. That has elicited interest from a small band of foreigners who are trying their hands at investing in an overseas market.

For the adventurous, there is even an English-language website, reassuringly called sleepwellhomes, for those who want to take a crack at buying foreclosed properties. Company founder Edward Perkich, an Australian who has been in Japan since 1999, started the company last year. Mr. Perkich says there are seven foreclosures in Tokyo every day. Read More »

About Japan Real Time

Japan Real Time is a newsy, concise guide to what works, what doesn’t and why in the one-time poster child for Asian development, as it struggles to keep pace with faster-growing neighbors while competing with Europe for Michelin-rated restaurants. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, the site provides an inside track on business, politics and lifestyle in Japan as it comes to terms with being overtaken by China as the world’s second-biggest economy. You can contact the editors at japanrealtime@wsj.com